June Book Club Announced!

Welcome to The Critical Path--the home for community happenings and events on ProjectManagement.com! This is where you'll find community news, updates, upcoming events, featured member posts and more. We'll also be showcasing hot topics in the project management arena and bringing you interviews with industry experts. The Critical Path is our primary way of getting news out to members, so be sure to check back for updates!

We are excited to announce the ProjectManagement.com June book club! The June book club will be open to all ProjectManagement.com registered users. The book club provides an opportunity to participate in webinars and discussions around selected books relevant to the overall practice of project management. The book club occurs in three parts:

Opening pre-recorded webinar which will be used to introduce the book. During this 30 minute pre-recorded webinar, the author will provide a high level overview of the concepts in his/her book, familiarizing participants with the information.

Discussion thread on ProjectManagement.com with input from the book club host and author. During the last week of the discussion, questions will be collected to present to the author in the closing webinar.

Closing Q&A live webinar with the author responding to questions submitted both through the online book club discussion thread and during the webinar. The webinar will be a panel style discussion with open dialogue between the moderator and the author.

The first 25 people registered for the closing book club webinar will receive a complimentary copy of the book and will be notified via email. Additional participants will have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the book at their own expense.

Exclusive to the June Book Club: All community members will be able to view the book club opening webinar, participate in the discussion forum, and participate in the book club closing webinar. We will evaluate the content of each opening and closing book club webinar to determine the eligibility and breakdown for PDUs.

Our book club book for June is Integrating Program Management and Systems Engineering by Eric Rebentisch.

Eric S. Rebentisch is a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Lead Researcher of MIT's Consortium for Engineering Program Excellence. His primary areas of research include High Performance Enterprise Product Development, Lean Product Development, Lean Project Management, Enterprise Change Management, and System Architecting and Development Strategies. He is editor of “Integrating Program Management and Systems Engineering” and author of numerous other publications. He has played key roles in analysis, policy recommendations, and transformation initiatives within the US and other governments.

About the book:

Integrating Program Management and Systems Engineering shows how organizations can become more effective, more efficient, and more responsive, and enjoy better performance outcomes. The discussion begins with an overview of key concepts, and details the challenges faced by System Engineering and Program Management practitioners every day. The practical framework that follows describes how the roles can be integrated successfully to streamline project workflow, with a catalog of tools for assessing and deploying best practices. Case studies detail how real-world companies have successfully implemented the framework to improve cost, schedule, and technical performance, and coverage of risk management throughout helps you ensure the success of your organization's own integration strategy. Available course outlines and PowerPoint slides bring this book directly into the academic or corporate classroom, and the discussion's practical emphasis provides a direct path to implementation.

The integration of management and technical work paves the way for smoother projects and more positive outcomes. This book describes the integrated goal, and provides a clear framework for successful transition.

• Assess current capabilities and build to the level your organization needs

• Manage risk throughout all stages of integration and performance improvement

• Deploy best practices for teams and systems using the most effective tools

Complex engineering systems are prone to budget slips, scheduling errors, and a variety of challenges that affect the final outcome. These challenges are a sign of failure on the part of both management and technical, but can be overcome by integrating the roles into a cohesive unit focused on delivering a high-value product. Integrating Program Management with Systems Engineering provides a practical route to better performance for your organization as a whole.

Our June book club host is David A. Maynard. Dave is a native New Yorker who after graduation from college, traveled to Houston to work for NASA at the Johnson Spacecraft Center, where he worked for many years.

He participated in the Shuttle avionics architecture design, the “glass cockpit” development and in crew training. Incrementally David’s level of responsibility increased, becoming a Senior Engineer, Project Engineer, Project Manager and Program Manager.

After leaving NASA, Mr. Maynard was asked to become the General Manager of Systems Management Inc. (SMI) in Orlando, Fl. whose mission was to turn-around troubled projects, programs or operations.

David teaches Project Management at Purdue University, Fort Wayne (IPFW) aHe is active the PMI-Northeast Indiana Chapter of which he was a founding member. He volunteers for PMI global in various capacities.

To register for the closing live book club webinar, please visit the webinar page on ProjectManagement.com, find the book club closing webinar and click on the “Register for this webinar” link.